Method and apparatus for transmitting and downloading setup information

Abstract

Multiple channel maps are embedded in a television transmission and the appropriate-channel corresponding to the particular television service used by the viewer is downloaded for use with the television receiver. Each channel map is accompanied by a channel map identifier which identifies the source of the television transmission and a geographic identifier. The source of a television transmission is automatically detected by monitoring the radio-frequency spectrum allocations of telecast stations. The geographic area identifier is determined by comparison with a user inputted geographic area identifier. The channel map having a channel map identifier corresponding to the detected television transmission source and the user inputted geographic area identifier is downloaded and stored for future use.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES [0001] The present application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 08 / 694,867, filed on Aug. 9, 1996, pending, which is a continuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 08 / 335,248, filed Nov. 7, 1994, entitled “A Remote Controller for Setting Clocks in Appliances”, now abandoned; and a continuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 08 / 615,567, filed Mar. 11, 1996, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Controlling a Television Tuner”, now abandoned, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 08 / 401,008, filed Mar. 8, 1995, now abandoned. The present application also claims priority of Provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 010,023, filed Jan. 16, 1996, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Detecting Type of Telecast Signal”; and Provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 017,703 filed May 23, 1996, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Detecting Type of Telecast Signal.” All of the above-identified applications being incorporated herein by reference a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for generating a channel map from data embedded in a television transmission. The data is transmitted on at least one channel of the television transmission and includes a plurality of channel maps, each channel map having a channel map identifier associated therewith. The apparatus automatically detects the source of the television transmission by monitoring a portion of the radio-frequency spectrum allocations of the television stations. The appropriate channel map can be extracted from the television transmission based on the geographic location of the viewer. The technical effect of this invention is to enable efficient and accurate detection and extraction of channel maps from television transmissions for various applications such as television channel mapping, television station identification, and television advertisement targeting.

Problems solved by technology

This process increases the complexity of programming the VCR and discourages the use of the unattended recording feature by the viewer.

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